Riding

Latin, treding.

The Ridings were administrative divisions of the countiesof Yorkshire and Lincolnshire which still survive in Yorkshire.

They were the primary divisions of those counties, intermediate between the county and Wapentake. In this respect, they were similar to the Lathesof Kent and the Rapesof
Sussex. Yorkshire was divided into East, North and West Ridings,
Lincolnshire into North, South and West Ridings. In addition, Kestevenand Hollandin
south Lincolnshire probably formed a fourth Riding, despite the fact
that the term Riding means a third part. This is a clue to the fact that
Holland and Kesteven, once the territory of Stamford, were later
additions to what had become the county of Lincoln by 1016. The core of
this new county was the ancient kingdom of Lindsey,
whose history goes back to the seventh century. Holland and Kesteven
were added much later, probably in an administrative re-organisation in
the tenth or early eleventh century. In Domesday Book, Lincolnshire was
still called Lindsey, though strictly speaking this was only the
northern half of the county.

Due to the Viking invasions in the ninth, and the English re-conquest in
the tenth century, the earlier history of the Ridings is more obscure
than that of the comparable units in Kent and Sussex. The documented
history of the kingdom of Lindsey does, however, imply that the
territories called Ridings in Domesday Book may have originated in the
early centuries of English history, though not necessarily under that
name.